*38

*The balmy water temperature, in Fahrenheit, at this year’s Polar Plunge. Our very own (and very brrrrave), Kara, plunged this year on our behalf. Her team raised $595 to support the Special Olympics of Minnesota!

We just updated our “My Account” and “My Cart” features to make navigating through our site easier. If you look near the top of any page (except the blog pages, for now), you’ll see these updates in our “header” (contains our logo and various icons: TV Parts, Help, About Us, etc.). From the header, you can login and access your account info, view your cart and edit/remove any TV parts in your cart, and also proceed to checkout without leaving the page!

To login: If you hover over the “My Account” icon, you’ll notice a drop-down appears to enter your account login information. You can also recover a forgotten password or create a new account from this area.

Accessing your account info: Once you’ve successfully logged into your account, you’ll notice a list of links to your account pages.

Viewing your shopping cart and checking out: If you’re not logged into your account or haven’t added any TV parts to your cart, you’ll notice that the “My Cart” drop-down is empty if you hover over it. Once you login (if you’ve added parts to your cart in the past) or add new TV parts to your cart, you’ll see that they display in this drop-down. You can edit quantities, remove parts, continue shopping, and proceed to checkout from this area.

Logging out: In the “My Account” drop-down, you’ll see a link to log out.

Please let us know if you encounter any issues or have any questions regarding these new features. Thanks!

If you wander down to the bottom of our website, you’ll notice a new logo. Our customer service was assessed by STELLAService — an “independent company that rates the customer service performance of online businesses.”

Anyway, they rated us last year (unbeknownst to us) and… we received their “Excellent” seal! We’re pretty proud of this accomplishment, but it won’t stop us from continuing our quest to provide you with the best customer service in the industry!

As of today, we’re “turning off” PayPal as an option for checking out on ShopJimmy.com. Unfortunately, we’ve had too many issues with its integration with our website’s system, and it has compromised our order delivery and customer service — two things that are extremely important to us.

We sincerely apologize if you’ve been affected by these issues in the past. We’re also sorry if this inconveniences your ordering process in the future.

We still accept all major credit cards over our secure network. We also don’t store credit card numbers, so you can rest assured that your payment data is safe. There may be a time when we start using PayPal again, and we will keep you updated when necessary.

Thanks so much for your understanding. Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions. As always, we appreciate your continued business and support.

Name: Jeanne

Position at ShopJimmy: Jimmy’s Assistant

One sentence job description: JJJJeeeeeaaaannnnneeee.

Favorite LCD breakage story: TVs break?!

TV model in your living room: Sony KDL-46S5100

Family: Very loving immediate and extended family. Fantastic boyfriend, Nathan. 3 kittens and 1 spunky Pomeranian.

Hobbies: Baking, cooking, party planning, spending time with my family and friends.

Favorite restaurant: This is an extremely difficult question for me as I love all food and going out to eat… but if I have to choose, I would have say Amore Victoria in Uptown.

Go-to Pandora/Spotify station: Some combination of Taylor Swift, Tom Petty, Jay-Z, Celine Dion, and whatever Pandora fills the gaps with.

Beverage of choice: Sweet Brandy Old Fashioned with cherries or red wine

In-flight reading material: People, Cosmo, Skymall, trashy novels, anything to keep me from thinking about how high up I am.

Sports team(s) you root for: Jared Allen and anything hockey

Three things you’d bring to a deserted island: Boyfriend, all of my animals (counts as one, right?!), and tequila.

On a web dating service, you’d describe yourself as: I’m not good about talking about myself… but if you buy me dinner and lots of drinks, I’m sure you’ll find out more than you bargained for.

You can find me on…

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, Jimmy created these custom Nike shoes for 5,000 “My Coke Rewards” points. That’s roughly 6,000 Diet Coke cans.

In his words, “It was worth it. Plus, one case of Diet Coke exploded in my truck, so it’s probably closer to 5,988 cans.”

Given how cool these shoes are, we don’t think any justification or clarification is needed.

What are you working on?

This Westinghouse model. It’s a real head scratcher.

Why is that?

Well, we’ve got all these different versions of the TV. And the different versions have different versions. Seriously goofy.

Don’t they all have different part numbers? Just do what we normally do and give them unique part numbers.

It’s not that simple. The main units do and don’t have consistent part numbers.

That makes soooo much sense… uh what?!

Well the board number T.RSC8.10A 11153 is on all of the…

So they’re all the same!

No, stop inter…

They have to be. The board number matches.

Enough. Listen. The board number and layout is uniform across all versions of this model. However, they aren’t the same. Each version has its own programming to work with the different panel manufacturers.

How do you know it won’t work?

How do you think I know? I tried it. Look what happens when you put a main from the AUO version into the Samsung version.

I see… well, they should label them differently with a sticker or something so there’s no confusion.

Oh they do, but the sticker causes more confusion.

Why? It should be clear that the sticker with the Samsung-esque panel number is for the Samsung version.

That’s what I thought at first, too. But the AUO version uses the Samsung number sometimes. But like I said before, they aren’t equivalents. Same happens with the CMO version. As a matter of fact, they all just have random panel numbers.

Seems strange. Well, what about these other numbers? They seem more generic. Are they relevant?

Not even close. They’re just as bad as the panel numbers. See how you can find the same number on the Samsung version and AUO version again?

Well dang! What do you plan on doing?

We have to emphasize the reasons we know they work together. And try to list them on the site in the least confusing manner.

How do we know what ones work where?

The ones that come from the same version with the same panel will only work in that same version and panel.

Ewww… what a mess. Is this the only instance of that?

Noooo… this is happening with a lot of models. Look at T.RSC7.11A 9537.

Yeah, gross. Even though all of those boards look identical, they aren’t the same?

Exactly. Look, these aren’t even for the same brands and models anymore. We’ve got RCA’s ranging from 26-46 inches. There is a plasma model for Viore. Westinghouse boards with more confusing panel info listed. It’s a real mess. We are doing our best to clean them up, but it takes time.

So it’s not just Westinghouse. All kinds of brands are jumping on board. Why do they all have the same board?

They’re all buying the same generic board from a third party and uploading their software to it. They are probably saving a lot of money doing it this way — sadly they aren’t marking them in a consistent manner. We have to be a lot more cautious selling these boards. We could get all kinds of customers claiming defective boards when really it is the wrong version. It’s pretty tough to narrow it down, but model and panel information should get people to the right place. Don’t trust the numbers on the boards, we only include them because we’re all programmed to search by them.

Well thanks for that. I sure hope these guys straighten out sooner or later and stop yanking everyone’s chain.

Me too!!

Sure it could. You could call and just happen to talk to me. Otherwise, here are some other ways to maximize your awesome quotient when you are ordering parts from us:

Be a scout!

We’ve all heard this saying, and sure, it’s pretty fundamental, but it still rings true: Be prepared. You’re a busy person, and while chattin’ it up with cool people like Jenni or Keith might be fun, I’m sure you’ve got some other stuff on your agenda.

A few things are required when you’re getting information from us. If you’re trying to order a part, the very best thing you can do is have the part at hand. In almost all cases, the information you need is right there. If you’re returning a part, make sure you have your invoice handy. With a little preparation, you can be right back to business in just a few minutes. Yay for efficiency!

What do you mean billing address?

To be fair, it is a bit of a misnomer because, in most cases, we aren’t sending you anything like a bill. What we’re referring to is the address tied to your credit card bill. If we have that wrong, we get an error called “AVS mismatch” and you end up with a pending charge on your card and boatload of bureaucratic nonsense to blast through to get it removed.

Double check your cart!

Before you complete your online order, it’s a good idea to take another look at the items in your cart and their quantities. We constantly hear from customers who accidentally order extra parts that they don’t need and are stuck paying shipping and possible restocking fees. Believe me, I hate, HATE charging people extra when a quick glance at their items/quantities could have prevented an awkward customer service experience. Also, keep in mind that our our order process is geared to get our parts into your hot little hands as soon as humanly possible. Because of this, changing or canceling orders, even after just a few minutes, is near impossible.

Have your card handy!

While many companies do hold on to your card numbers for your convenience, we don’t for your security. Seriously, we worry. We’d also like you to buckle your seat belt and obey the speed limits. We’re kind of like your grandmother in that respect.

Have any other ideas for how we improve? Let us know in the comments of this post! Thanks!

I know, there’s a certain professionalism expected when one is blogging about e-waste, and I don’t want to make light of what could easily be called a pandemic.

But this. Wow. Words freaking fail. (Which is why I made this sound when I found it: “Squeeeeeeee.”)

It’s a robot. Right? Guaranteed awesome. It’s made of recycled e-waste. Uber-awesome.

AND IT CAN REPAIR OR IMPROVE ITSELF USING MORE E-WASTE!!!!

Thanks, Jon, for slapping me back to consciousness when I fainted just now. Though you should know that when you “slap a person back to consciousness” you should gently smack them, usually on the cheek, not kick them in the ribs while screaming obscenities.

But that might just be a regional thing. Like calling soda “pop.” So, no worries.

But anyway, as I was saying: ONCE ACTIVATED, IT JUST ROAMS AROUND TURNING POTENTIALLY TOXIC WASTE INTO AWESOME…NESS!!! (Why do I keep fainting? Maybe my blood sugar is low.)

And it only cost $500 to build. (Not bad eh, Jimmy? Bargain basement robot army! I’m just sayin’. Why run a company, when we could go somewhere warm, topple some government and then literally live like kings? Think about it.)

Sure, he might not be the best looking robot ever, but not everyone can be the beautiful and charismatic Arcee (see image below). And if he can repair himself, what’s to stop him from (whoa, getting a little light headed), you know, after a few upgrades, (gimme a minute, I’m a little woozy) building more robots!?!?!

Editor’s note: We are trying to revive Chris again. He’s lying on the ground with his eyes rolled back in his head, grinning like a madman.

Wow. It’s dark out already. Huh. So anyway, it just keeps getting cooler. The designer plans to add multiple recharging options, like solar or kinetic, that would all go to a single battery. So it would even run on renewable energy. He’s like an eco-juggernaut!

I’m heading back to the warehouse now. So if you realize the world just got conquered, you may want to send me a gift basket or something.

Or feel my robot wrath! (I’ve always wanted to say that!) You can read more about it here.

2nd Editor’s note: Chris has been forcibly ejected from the warehouse and is currently sitting at his desk mumbling something about destiny.

We spend a great deal of time trying to find and test substitute TV parts. If you scroll down to the bottom of many product pages, you’ll notice that we have a “Substitute Parts” section:

These are compatible parts that we’ve researched and tested. Yes, one of our experienced TV techs has actually tested every substitute on our website. To make finding these substitutes easier for you, especially on out-of-stock TV parts, we also added this section (“These TV Parts Also Work”) near the top of the product page:

If you know of a proven substitute and it’s not listed on the product page of its compatible TV part, please use the “Let us know!” link to inform us! If we’re able to test and confirm your tip, we’ll gladly give you a discount toward your next purchase! Thanks for your help.

Today is a special day, friends. Exactly* five years ago, Jimmy founded ShopJimmy.com out of his garage with no more than a few TVs and a dream. We want to celebrate by thanking you for your support and business this past half-decade!

According to WebMD, here are the milestones we should’ve achieved by now…

1. Speak clearly using more complex sentences. (Have you seen one of our email threads?)
2. Count ten or more objects. (We counted 272,783 TV parts today. Check this one off the list.)
3. Correctly name at least four colors and three shapes. (We’re confused. Pass.)
4. Recognize some letters and possibly write his or her name. (Someone just sent an email with “B” as their signature, so we’re still working on recognizing letters.)
5. Better understand the concept of time and the order of daily activities. (Jimmy sends emails between 1-4 am. Regularly.)
6. Have a greater attention span. (Hey, look! A shiny object!)
7. Follow two- to three-part commands. (Backlight inverter. Backlight inverter slave. Next.)
8. Recognize familiar words, such as “STOP.” (But there’s only one more milestone?)
9. Know his or her address and phone number. (Ladies, my number is 612-50… just kidding.)

*Well, not exactly. Our official birthday is 1/30, but we’ve celebrated it on 2/1 the past few years. I guess we’re still working on that whole counting milestone.

Our very own Jimmy “Golden Voice” Vosika chatted with WCCO’s John Hines yesterday about ShopJimmy and its “dumb luck” beginnings. Listen to it here!

The Star Tribune ran an great article this weekend about us, Jimmy, and our recent recycling efforts. Here’s an excerpt from the article by Star Tribune writer, Neal St. Anthony:

“Jimmy Vosika has turned the dark side of our love of flat-panel TVs into a growth machine, five years after he started ShopJimmy.com in his garage.

Vosika, a one-time Delta Air Lines baggage handler and computer programmer, turned an idea he had while working for his father-in-law’s recycling company in 2006 into a specialty recycler that refurbishes plasma and LCD TVs, and sells parts nationally through a workforce of nearly 100 full-time and contract workers.”

You can read the full article here. Thanks, Star Tribune!

1,994,153 pounds of e-waste, to be exact.

We have to admit, we’re pretty darn proud of that number. It’s a numerical testament to our commitment to “going green” and reducing global electronics waste. How much is 1.99 million pounds? Try 181 African Elephants. Over 15 jumbo jets (747s). The Statue of Liberty multiplied four and a half times.

Our environmental initiatives don’t stop there, either. We’re constantly tweaking our TV teardown processes and business practices to recycle as much as possible. In fact, we also recycled 3,255 pounds of paper and 1,290 pounds of beverage containers last year.

All of these environmental-friendly steps coincide with our recent ISO 14001 certification, which addresses and establishes guidelines to minimize our company’s impact on the environment. If you’re looking to join us in our quest to reduce e-waste, check out these sources for more information:

- Find a recycling location near you.
- Recycle your electronics at Best Buy.
- Are you a Mac? Recycle your old Apple products.

We’re very honored to announce that NEW awarded us as their “Distributor of the Year” last week at CES in Las Vegas! This award means a great deal to us; NEW is the leader in extended service plans and protection programs for consumer products and one of our invaluable industry partners.

Twelve other TV and electronics parts distributors were eligible for this award, which ranked all of us on criteria from inventory quality and cost to returns to customer support.

Thanks, NEW!